| Home Members Stories Art Galleries Join AZ Boards Contact Us Shorturl.com | --|Ruby: Summer of the Guapda|--(Ruby�s strange language will be translated to English in parentheses)�Ni, ni, ni, ni, ni, ni!� (Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight) The little animals cheered from the trees. Ruby, a burgundy cats with sharp long ears and dreadlocks, bent low to the ground, growling. Her cheetah tail and hands erect. Her face tensed. The jaguar- her opponent growled, his hind quarters up, ready to pounce. �Hi!� (Kick!) Ruby hissed, kicking her foot into the jaguar. The crowd of animals cheered. The jaguar fell, but then pounced on Ruby and she threw it off. �Hay ni.� (Play fight) Ruby laughed. The jaguar bent his head. He growled. He ripped out his claws and Ruby escaped, with a slash on her leg. �Obah! Hay ni!� (Very bad! Play fight!) She yelled, frustrated at the jaguar�s feistiness. �Na obah ki! Cae eiya reo!� (No hurtful fight! You crazy animal!) She screamed at the creature as her leg bleed. Frustrated she let loose of her hurt, punching the creature back against a tree trunk. �Rae to!� (Give up!) She yelled at it. It growled. �Rae to! Na raijan!� (Give up! No death!) She commanded, holding its paws to the tree. It growled and whooped a hollering yell. The animals went nuts. Ruby let it go, and it ran off into the jungle to heal its pride. �Zoya! Zoya! Zoya!� (Winner! Winner! Winner!) A parrot trilled, flying through the jungle tops. �Tae zoya!� (I�m the winner!) Ruby yelled to the creatures, holding up her hands. �Ni?� (Fight?) An animal asked. �Na mur ni. Mm. Tae cae zoh.� (No more fight. Eat. Us go!� Ruby uttered in her fluent island tongue, she ran off into the jungle, the animals following. Her tight warrior-like skirt made of leaves fluttered as she zoomed through the forest. �Hyou!� (Hello!) An ape screeched as it swung by Ruby. �Hyou! Oiy?� (Hello! Busy?) She asked as it stopped, while it clung on to a branch. �Oo! Oo!� (Been around! But I�m back!) The ape proclaimed. �Ya? Cae zae heh?� (Yes? You have fun?) Ruby asked. �Ya! Heh! Heh heh heh! Oo Oo!� (Yes! Fun! Fun fun fun! Been around! Excitement!) The ape proclaimed, climbing up the tree. Ruby laughed. She wondered where he went though� Ruby found a tasty fruit tree and pulled off the fruit, tossing it down to the little creatures below her. �Rae ko ano.� (Give to another.) Ruby commanded as two parrots fought for a fruit, they listened and spilt the fruit in half. �Mm.� (Tasty) Ruby said with a long sigh as she bit into the fruit. The animals agreed in chirping, trilling, purring, and meowing. This is Ruby�s jungle. This was Jorica jungle. Her home, where she lived. The animals liked to hang around with her. In their eyes, she was the greatest, the highest mark of independence. The animals of higher intellect pondered for many days- to wonder if she needed them, instead of them needing her. They never found the answer in their perplexing question. They just uttered a dull �Oo.� (Confusion.) The strongest of the strongest looked for her competition. They wished to rival her strength, but were never victorious. She was, truly, the queen of the jungle. The lion dared not to wake her in her slumber; the ant dared not to crawl on her face. Ruby was all knowing, In their eyes, she was yahkia itself, and yahkia meant �life� in the island tongue. Ruby rocked back and fourth in the tree that summer night, her animal friends, playing in the dammed off river below. She watched as they played. All was well. She walked to the temple. That starry night, she sat upon the steps, listening to the trill of all the unique birds. Their song echoing through the warm jungles. �Che tri, che chirp. Che yahkia.� (Beautiful breeze, beautiful sky. Beautiful life.) Ruby felt the warm stone under her feet as she went into the temple. The fire burned bright in the center and she pulled a bottle out from the side of a cinder block. She took out the glittery, rainbow powder, grounded abalone shells, and threw it onto the fire. It sparked in a great roar in the fire and all the jungle knew it was time for the nighttime prayer. All was silent, as animals paid their respect to the �Cyro Chirpreo� � the Halcyon Bird. �Rae mur yahkia- Suo yahjan. Hio cae.� She prayed. After that, all the animals in the jungle made a loud uproar. Then they stopped to go to bed. �Shoo! Shoo! Zoh!� (Sleep! Bed! Go!) Ruby yelled as she exited the temple. The animals scurried away before she could see them. She sighed and ran into the jungle, sped through the forest- and to her bed under a tree, on Anon hill. There, she rested under the trees as the wild blue and lavender lupine and forget-me-nots covered in around her in a circle. This was her place of solitude and sleep. �Mm.� (Good) Ruby sighed, rolling over in the flowers strange and perfumey fragrances. She went to sleep. The next morning, Ruby awoke, the sun was shining and she looked out over the hill at the shimmering ocean. She considered the sky as the feathers of the Halcyon bird, and the blue ocean it�s tail. The sun was its shimmering eye, and the yahjan (land) was its beak. She smiled and got up. Time for the rite again! Down at the temple, she took out a different bottle from a cinder block. She poured the dried potpourri of deliciously scented flowers, leaves and sweet grass over the fire. It burned and filled the temple with a sweet aroma. �Hio cae ko che tae cae yahkia suo yahjan.� She chanted. The animals cheered and chirped. �Mm.� Ruby said in hunger. She wandered off further into the temple. There, she saw a beautiful and deep pool of water. Ancient turquoise blue tiles lined the walls and portrayed pictures of the Halcyon Bird- giver of life. Fresh water poured in through spouts on the tiled wall. �Eiya!� (Whoa!) Ruby yelled, diving into the fresh water. There she swam, until she saw an opening in the wall. She swam through it into an underwater hallway. Lined mirrors on the walls shone light from the outside inside. She eyed the detailed picture story on the wall. It was a beautiful mural all done in tiles. The scene had the Halcyon Bird, flying through the tile sky, as life sprouts from its pincer tail. The darkness turns into sky as she sweeps by. Ruby made it to the other side of the hallway and swum to the top. She burst out of the water, into a marble room. There, she shed her drenched clothes and put on a dry pair. The shimmering purple marble floor reflected even more as she drenched it. Mirrors lending light from the outside lighted up the room. She made her way through the marble labyrinth of ancient mahogany doors and shutters, until she made her way down the marble stairs. A shining cyan pool shone before her at the foot of the jungle. It was a man-made- or who ever it was made by �pool. The carved marble sidings, pool walls, floor, and water fountains of peculiar figures pleased the creatures playing in the pool. When they saw her, they chirped in happiness. �Che splish!� (Beautiful water!) Ruby yelled, walking down the stairs. The animals shrilled in agreement. Ruby laid down on a marble carved lawn-chair. At least she thought it was a lawn chair. It could be a broken fountain that no longer works. Above it was a tree with a blue and red stripped fruit. She grabbed it and munched. Delicious! To anyone who has ever tasted a raspberry and blueberry all at once, and liked it, would love this sweet tangible fruit. She feasted on the tree�s contents until she could eat no more. Her fur dried in the summer sun. And� She just sat there. She starred at the ground. Water foamed from it� She sat up. She found this� peculiar� The ground was suppose to be dry, how could it do this? She heard a loud rumbling. She put her ears to the ground, just listening. The ferocious roar came again and she stumbled over her own feet, in confusion. The animals heard it. They stopped playing, uttering dull �Oos.� It stopped. The growling stopped and peace returned. The animals kept playing. But Ruby worried. What was the peculiar noise? That afternoon, Ruby returned to the temple for the mid-day rite. She took a different bottle out and poured hickory bark into the fire. The fire burned it all up and the temple smelled peaceful, tranquil. Ruby sighed. She stopped and heard the rumbling again. Then it went away� She heard a massive screech and cries from the jungle. Cries she never heard before, ones of sorrow and hurt. Ruby froze in terror, the hair in her ears seemed to prickle. She picked up her feet and ran as fast as she could through the jungle. �Raijan!� (Death!) She heard animals cry in grief. Ruby got to the center of the jungle. The trees were gone, and in their place, a massive hole. A hole so massive, that it would take more than a zillion worms to dig it in that little of time. She looked down into the hole. �Reos?� (Animals?) She whispered, her voice shaking and quivering. She heard a low grumble and a fleshy skin burst up towards her. She bent down to it, and starred. It was like a massive black worm, but with a hide so dark. �Eesh.� (Dirty.) Ruby grumbled, looking at the filthy creature. Slits on the top of its head opened up, and large, black, empty eyes starred up at her, emotionless. She gasped at the largeness of the eyes. It growled and opened a large slit in the side of it. Enormous jagged bloodstained teeth came into view. Ruby starred down at it� scarred of it moving. It coughed up a mass of bones and fur and rushed down back underneath the ground. Ruby cried in horror as the mass of bones and fur slid down the hole along with the monster. �Guapda! Guapda!� (Monster! Monster!) Ruby cried as she ran over the hill. The bones, the fur, the blood. She cringed as she remembered the foul smell as it burped up the remains. It was terrible! It was horrible! She ran as quickly as she could, yelling, spreading the word of danger. Never had she seen a monster like this� The jungle was in an uproar, creatures hardly slept. Ruby stood by them, making sure she�d be there to stop it if it came. �Nahi Guapda�� (Stupid monster) Ruby muttered as she starred at the black ground below her, her cat eyes glaring in the dark. She stood there all night, looking, searching for the filthy creature. It killed so many of her friends� She grasped her fists. Why? � The sun came into view and the day illuminated. So far, the creature didn�t attack at night. But then maybe it wasn�t hungry� She pounded her right fist against her left hand and crept down low to the ground. Without delay, she began the morning rite in the temple� That afternoon, she walked to the temple, the animals were carefree and high-spirited, playing around on the ground and through the trees. Ruby smiled. But then� She felt the rumble again. It couldn�t be! It was! -The monster was coming! �Zoh! Zoh! Guapda! Guapda!� (Run! Run! Monster! Monster!) Ruby yelled, running through the jungle at top speeds, yelling at the top of her lungs. The creatures fled in terror and panic. She felt like running away, scared like them, but she knew she was strong, and had to do something to protect them. The ground broke up as the Guapda rolled underneath it. Ruby ran on top of the huge wave of dirt. It burst through the ground and dove 20 feet into the air. Ruby leaped onto it and ran up its black and tough slithery body as it drove through the air. The wind lashed back her three dreadlocks. It loped down to the ground and she clung to its back. It fell into the gigantic hole it dug yesterday. She dug her claws into the monsters back as it swarmed at a high speed of 120 mph under the earth. Ruby gasped as they hit a water table. The water flowed around her, and she held her breath. Everything was dark, and she could feel the ceiling of the tunnel hit her ears, but Ruby stayed calm. She would live through this. At last, they were away from the mud and water, as Ruby was covered in it. �Cae na hi Guapda! Scre!� (You stupid monster! Stop!) She yelled as they slid through a large rocky tunnel. The monster loomed back over the ground towards a group of fleeing animals. It opened its vicious jaws and started swallowing everything in sight, spitting up trees and rocks as it zoomed along at top speeds. Ruby heard the screeching animals. �Scre! Obah! Na!� (Stop! Very bad! No!) Ruby yelled. It wouldn�t listen! It was the only creature who just would stop when she told it to. �Rae to!� (Give up!) She yelled at it, digging her claws into the monster's flesh. It kept going. �Rae to!� She screamed over and over again, ripping into it�s skin ferociously, slashing, kicking and punching. It kept going, and as it was about to tunnel into the ground again, she jumped off and landed in a tree. She looked down as it dug deeper into the ground. It escaped� Ruby stayed up all night. She tended to the grieving reos (Animals) who lost loved ones. She just� Didn�t know what to do. It wouldn�t listen, wouldn�t obey. And it was killing so many creatures� �Tae moi!� (I�m sad!) Ruby cried to the creatures. They were silent as they watched her cry. Ruby cried in vain as she remembered what she saw. She saw the red blood of the creatures in her mind, the mangled fur. It was so red- so awkward. Then she remembered the green blood of the Guapda as she ripped it up. She bawled. Why did her blood have to be white? Ruby asked herself for the first time. She just didn�t know. Why wasn�t her blood the ohn? (Same?) For the first time, Ruby looked at herself. She looked at herself in a glistening pool of water near the froom. (Fire.) The silver cuffs on her joints, her long flowing dreadlocks, her eyes, her mouth, her arms, and mostly her two long legs. Then she looked at the creatures, sleeping and weeping their animal tears by the fire. She was not the same. She was different. The Guapda was different. They both had strange colored blood�Was she� a monster? Her eyes poured with tears. They fell into the clear pool and made little ripples. How could she end the Raijan? (Death?) Would death stop death? Ruby reflected over the thought, until all the animals were fast asleep. Feeling aloof and very mioe (alone), she drifted to sleep away from the pile of animals. The next morning, she recited a different rite. One of hopes and prosper. She staked out near a large hole in the ground, waiting for the Guapda� Afternoon came and Ruby yelled her strong voice through the noon day sun. The creatures that were left fled across the jungle into the temple. They would be safe there. She heard the rumbling. Her eyes narrowed. It was the noonday monster. She knew it was coming. She crouched low to the ground as she felt a current of air waft up from the large hole. The monster emerged, opened its cold monstrous eyes and starred at her. Ruby growled then shot out her claws. �Guapda ni gaupda. Haij tae.� (Monster fights monster. Here I am.) She growled. The monster opened its jaws, as if it heard and understood her. It burst out of the ground and stood its body up perfectly straight. It was enormous. Its head stretched past the tall treetops, and its growl took up the whole sky. �Ni tae!� (Fight me!) Ruby yelled up to the massive creature. It slid quickly up to her and she jumped and hitched a ride on the slithering creature. She ripped her claws down the monsters back as it slid up to speeds of 60 Mph to 120 Mph in less than 40 seconds. It screeched as she pierced deeper into its skin than she ever did before. It rolled over and threw her off. She landed on the ground but jumped up. Soaring through the air, her foot kicked mercilessly against the side of the monster and it growled in pain. It countered her by slamming its mammoth long tail against Ruby. Ruby burst across columns and columns of tall trees, snapping them as she broke through them. In pain, bruised up and scratched, she climbed to her feet, the monster roaring towards her. Her eyes widened. She yelled and jumped on its head, then it snapped its head back and she fell into his mouth! She slid down the monsters warm and slimy digestive track, she slid her nails across it and she heard a deep screech echo through it belly. �ARGH!� Ruby yelled, punching up and kicking the blubbery insides of the Guapda. It shrilled and screeched as it rolled around on the ground, crushing trees. Ruby was finally tossed about down the digestive track. She was running out of air and she gasped. She would have to get out soon! Through the darkness, she felt all blubbery sides closing in as acids burned the edges of her feet. She was being digested! Squeezed, almost to where she was suffocated, she jammed her claws into the blubber walls. A liquid oozed over her hands and she gasped. She was drowning in its digestive juice and blood! She felt her fur and arms being singed, her dress of leaves melted and burned off. The acid burned everywhere. �GrrAGH!� Ruby cried. �NAAAAAA!� She screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice shrill. She didn�t want to die! She wasn�t going to die! She felt the taste in her mouth, the monsters blood. �Cyro boom!� (Halcyon Burst!) She yelled. A light illuminated from her hands and the skin of the creature burned and blasted away as a large hole of sunlight emerged and air came in. Ruby was hearing constant screeches and yells of pain from the monster, screams so shrill in pain and pathos. Ruby kicked jumped out of the creature and into the air. She landed onto the ground, bruised and burned. White blood oozing from her arm. Her blood... She panted viciously, wanting of the air around her. The monster, in its last attempts, crushed Ruby with its massive body. Screaming as all air was deprived from her lungs, she jumped up through the monster's body, ripping through it. The monster, its evil hateful roar, echoed in her mind. She felt as her energy diminished, but she wouldn�t stop. The life of all the animals depended on her� She wouldn�t let them down- not now! And in the after noon sky, she shifted her hands out, �Raijan ko ano!� She screamed, falling towards the ground and facing her fist out forwards. A huge beam of light emerged from her fist and created a boom of energy. The sky turned red and the trees seemed black. The pupils of Ruby�s eyes evaporated through her enraged screaming. The monster shrilled as it evaporated. It�s skin flailed like a gigantic ocean wave. Ruby�s energy was all gone. She felt limp and tired as she landed in the leathery skin and the pile of ashes- the remains of the monster. Ruby gasped her last breath. She closed her eyes, and passed. Ruby felt the mist press against her face- the light enter her eyes. The jungle trees around her. A chilling and homely melody fell around her- A familiar song. �Maiei�� (mother) Ruby muttered as she felt a wreath of warm feathers envelope her face. The melody trilled into her ears. And she saw the fast beautiful cyan colors of the wings. And looked into the creature�s eyes, gold and shining like the sun, standing on two legs like her own, beautiful, and wearing a head dress shaped like Ruby's ears. Her eyes, they looked loving, peaceful. �Maiei� Forgive me� Forgive me for killing.� Ruby wept, paralyzed in her woe. It wrapped her daughter in her wings. �Cae no mioe. Cae na guapda.� The bird�s voice muttered in an unearthly tone. (You�re not alone� You�re no monster.) Ruby smiled through the haze of light. Ruby awoke. The sun was setting, she didn�t know if it was the next day, the next week, or next month. She was still in the pile of ashes and skin of the Guapda. She thought of mother. Mother? � But it was� the god of the sky. �The goddess of the sky. Her mother? Ruby looked up into the sky, and among the red clouds, she saw the shadow of a large bird� Ruby was happy, and a smile spread across her face. She felt like singing, so she sat up. �Suo oiy yahjan, na mioe, yah ano yahkia, ohn itae...� She sung, looking towards the sky. |
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